EVENT PARTNERS
SponsoredFeatured
‘The capital is there.’ So what’s stalling the energy transition?
Problems around new transmission means Australia may fall short of its 2030 targets, but political will, capital and renewable resources remain strong drivers for the transition.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith and Mark Ludlow
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
ACCC’s historic Origin call heralds start of ‘terrifying’ summer
The ACCC’s Origin decision recognises the urgency of the energy transition that seems to be lacking in other quarters.
- James Thomson
‘Get your candles’: energy experts are ‘terrified’ about this summer
A summer of blackouts has emerged as a real risk from Australia’s creaking power system, increasing the likelihood of extra government intervention.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Carbon tax a fairer way to reach 2030 carbon target
A broad-based carbon tax would help take pressure off the decarbonisation challenge, retaining the economy’s energy competitiveness while keeping the lights on.
- The AFR View
One landowner can’t stop the energy transition: TransGrid CEO
TransGrid is prepared to compulsorily acquire properties along the route of the proposed 360-kilometre HumeLink in southern NSW if landowners don’t agree to sell.
- Jenny Wiggins
October 2023
Cannon-Brookes’ Sun Cable in manufacturing bid to solve cable shortage
The billionaire’s Grok Ventures, which bought Sun Cable out of administration, is facing a five- to eight-year wait for cables, CEO Jeremy Kwong-Law said.
- Ben Potter
Show us nuclear costs, Chris Bowen tells Peter Dutton
The Energy Minister has called the opposition dishonest for suggesting that nuclear power could be cheaper than renewables.
- Jenny Wiggins
Australia’s critical minerals list set for a major rethink
Coking coal and iron ore could be added to Australia’s critical minerals list under a definitional change hinted at by Resources Minister Madeleine King that bucks the global trend.
- Peter Ker
Batteries to cost $18b more than pumped hydro to firm Qld renewables
Meeting Queensland’s long-duration energy storage task for its renewable energy zones would have cost $18 billion more with batteries than pumped hydro.
- Updated
- Ben Potter
In a world of turmoil, Labor reassures that gas exports are a priority
Resources Minister Madeleine King says the needs of trusted partners like Japan and Korea will be central to Labor’s gas strategy.
- Peter Ker and Mark Ludlow
Industry hit by faltering energy transition
Boral is having to regularly wind back production when power prices spike, showing the toll that Australia’s stumbling energy transition is taking on manufacturing.
- Peter Ker and Angela Macdonald-Smith
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Israel-Hamas war will rock an already edgy oil market
Peter Coleman says a ‘worry factor’ from the Israel-Hamas war will lift oil prices in the short term. Longer term, it’s more evidence energy abundance is over.
- Updated
- James Thomson
Business lacking ‘the will’ to urgently cut emissions: Fortescue
Fortescue Energy CEO Mark Hutchinson wants companies to bring forward their net zero targets. Those with 2040 or 2050 horizons are not acting urgently enough.
- Updated
- Angela Macdonald-Smith and Jenny Wiggins
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Energy Summit confirms stuttering transition is not on track
The scale and complexity of the task requires all hands on deck, rather than ruling out any feasible transition pathway on political grounds.
- The AFR View
Bowen’s $387b nuclear price tag ‘doesn’t make sense’
A Westinghouse Electric executive argued bringing nuclear into the energy grid could be done far more cheaply, as the Coalition said it would consider overturning the ban.
- Jenny Wiggins
Santos CEO says the world will never give up fossil fuels
Kevin Gallagher says the US and UK have shifted positions and Australia too will eventually swing away from demonising gas.
- Simon Evans
- Opinion
- Opinion
The energy transition is gridlocked, regulators have no answers
It’s crunch time for the switch to renewables and regulators are pleading with business to invest more and quickly. But progress is stalling.
- Jennifer Hewett
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
The startling reason Boral is stopping production almost every day
Vik Bansal, chief executive of the building products giant, has provided a reality check on how the energy transition is actually rolling out for the Australian industry.
- James Thomson
How 3.5m households could be ‘unsung heroes’ on road to net zero
Energy produced by solar panels on Australian households is equivalent to four Snowy Hydros, but not enough is being done to capitalise on it.
- Ben Potter
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Fortescue keeps faith in its green hydrogen unicorn hunt
Peter Coleman says buyers willing to sign up for 10-year green hydrogen contracts are like unicorns. But Fortescue’s Mark Hutchinson insists they are out there.
- James Thomson
AEMO, CEOs in call-to-arms on clean energy build-out
The nation’s energy market operator will urge developers to exploit all available government schemes to get projects into construction, and get community backing.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith and Mark Ludlow
Why BHP is against ‘sugar hit’ subsidies for critical minerals
BHP boss Mike Henry says governments will stoke investment more sustainably through policy reform than by handing out subsidies that distort markets.
- Peter Ker
- Exclusive
- Business investment
‘Go hard, be brave’, says $15b green bank boss
National Reconstruction Fund chairman Martijn Wilder said Australia needs a WWII-style “Marshall Plan” to decarbonise the economy fast.
- Ben Potter
Australia has more rooftop solar than coal power. What’s going wrong?
Energy regulators and retailers are failing to manage the explosion of rooftop solar power and co-ordinate demand by users to stabilise the power grid.
- Ben Potter
- Opinion
- Energy transition
Albanese to focus on energy policy after the Voice vote
There is no pathway to affordable clean power that does not require government support. In the immediate post-referendum period, the government will turn its energies to that task.
- Craig Emerson